The Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, led by top official Mamdani, was planning a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN.

On Tuesday morning, Commissioner Ana María Archila was slated to sit down with Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s representative at the UN, at 2 United Nations Plaza. Joining her were two senior colleagues from the mayor’s office. These details were uncovered through calendar invitation screenshots seen by City Journal, confirmed by insiders connected to international affairs and those within Archila’s team.

An official from the State Department also verified knowledge of the anticipated meeting under the Mamdani administration.

The scheduled discussion between Archila and Iravani was ultimately canceled. This decision came after the State Department, having not been notified earlier, engaged the Mamdani administration to discuss proper protocol, as noted by the State Department contact.

City Journal reveals that Commissioner Archila reportedly proceeded without alerting the mayor about the meeting. This oversight led to her reprimand and subsequent instruction to cancel the appointment, according to a source familiar with her office operations.

The meeting between Archila and Iravani was called off after the State Department — which was not informed ahead of time — met with the Mamdani administration to clarify acceptable conduct, according to the State Department official.

City Journal learned that Commissioner Archila allegedly did not inform the mayor of the meeting. She was reprimanded for the move and directed to cancel the meeting, according to the source familiar with the office.

On April 16, a message seen by City Journal was sent to staff within the mayor’s Office for International Affairs asking them to prioritize diplomatic engagement in part based on whether foreign officials “are . . . in political alignment/leftist.”

The message confirms previous reporting by El País, noting that Archila has “focused . . . on deepening relations with foreign leaders who share Mamdani’s worldview.”

New York City officials did not originally envision the mayor’s Office for International Affairs as a means of shaping foreign policy.

Its purpose is to exchange best practices with other global cities, bring foreign businesses to New York and support city government’s relationship with the entire diplomatic community residing in New York City — without regard to political ideology or party.

That makes Archila, who has no prior diplomatic experience, an unusual choice for the role.

Mamdani appointed her as commissioner after she had an exhaustive career in activism.

She served as co-director of the progressive Working Families Party, whose official position is that the war in Iran “can and must be stopped.”

The Mamdani administration has been notably vocal on foreign policy.

The mayor himself has spoken out about US and Israeli strikes against Iran, describing them as a “catastrophic escalation in an illegal act of war of aggression.”

He has also been frequently and explicitly critical of the state of Israel, an opposition he says is based on dislike for any state that “privileges one religion over another” — a description that also covers the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The administration’s international ambitions have not been limited to public comments.

Last month, Mamdani intended to meet with leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro — but the meeting was called off after the State Department declined to issue a visa following Petro’s attendance at a rally hosted by Mamdani in September.

Judgment issue

Achila’s international meetings have included a two-day trip to Barcelona in April to participate in a conference hosted by the Party of European Socialists.

That Achila’s meeting with Iranian officials was even contemplated raises questions about her judgment — and about the administration’s priorities.

Her office’s loosely defined mission is to promote a more “equitable and inclusive society” and strengthen New York City’s position as a global leader.

It’s more than a stretch to suggest that a meeting with representatives of a country with whom the United States is engaged in hostilities — and with whom it has no diplomatic relations — would help achieve those ends.

Adam Lehodey is an investigative reporter at City Journal. Reprinted with permission.

The individual accusing NFL free agent Stefon Diggs of sexual assault has handed over more than 100 pages of communications exchanged between himself and the accomplished wide receiver, as part of their ongoing legal dispute, according to a report by TMZ.

Lawyers representing Diggs had previously pressed for the release of these messages, alleging that the accuser, Christopher Griffith, had not disclosed them, based on court filings acquired by The Daily Mail.

TMZ now reports that Griffith has indeed provided the messages, which he contends will substantiate his claims of sexual assault. The specific contents of the messages remain undisclosed at this time.

The Daily Mail has reached out to legal representatives for both Diggs and Griffith for their comments on the situation.

In October 2025, while still on the roster of the New England Patriots, Diggs initiated a defamation lawsuit against Griffith, accusing the social media influencer of disseminating falsehoods about him online. Subsequently, Griffith filed a countersuit alleging that Diggs had drugged and sexually assaulted him—an accusation that Diggs has strongly denied.

A July status report in the case states that the discovery process in the case has been completed. Diggs’ legal team does intend to file a dispositive pretrial motion, which is a request asking a judge to rule on some or all of the claims of a case.

In his counterclaim to the defamation lawsuit, Griffith alleged that on May 21, 2023, he was invited to stay the night at Diggs’s Maryland property as a guest of the wideout. Late that night, he said he and Diggs went out to a couple of nightclubs in Washington DC, where they stayed out until the early hours of May 22.

According to the court filing, while out partying, Diggs allegedly offered Griffith ‘candy.’ He initially refused but later accepted and ate some after growing hungry.

However, Griffith claimed, the candy proved to be drugged. He alleged that after consuming the substance, his ‘pupils became extremely dilated, to the point that he could not see the color of his irises,’ his ‘skin began to tingle to the touch,’ and he ‘found it difficult to form’ complete sentences. 

He also alleged in the court paper that, despite not consuming any alcohol or other substances, he became disorientated, leading him to believe that he had been drugged.

Griffith further claimed in his court filing that Diggs exposed himself in his car and began masturbating in front of his passenger, according to the countersuit.

Diggs allegedly encouraged Griffith to touch his genitalia. Griffith further claimed that he clearly and forcefully asked Diggs to put his penis away before exiting the vehicle and heading towards the property door, according to the filing.

On the way to the entrance to the residence, Diggs allegedly gripped Griffith’s shoulder and pulled him closer. He then tried to kiss Griffith on the mouth but the stylist avoided the attempt, according to the countersuit. Instead, Diggs put his tongue in Griffith’s ear and whispered to him to ‘come to his room,’ the counterclaim alleged.

Griffith allegedly attempted to resist but said he found it difficult to exert force against Diggs because of the alleged substance he had unwittingly consumed. Upon entering the home, Diggs went to his room, but Griffith ran to the bathroom to plan his ‘escape,’ according to the court filing.

When Griffith left the bathroom, he said two women and a man, Darez Diggs – one of Diggs’s younger brothers – confronted him. They allegedly threatened him and demanded that he not discuss the events of the evening and to instead say that he had stolen items from the residence, according to the court paper.

Griffith claimed he was forced into a vehicle and dropped off at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in nothing but an ill-fitting sweatshirt. Still disorientated, he managed to secure a ticket back to Los Angeles.

On May 29, 2023, Griffith was attacked inside his own apartment building by associates of Diggs, according to the countersuit.

The alleged assailants, including Diggs’ brother Darez, are said to have kicked and punched him several times in the head in the elevator, and to have taken several valuable items including his phone, the filing continued.

Footage later emerged of the attack, and Darez pleaded no contest to one felony count of grand theft from a person in March 2024 in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to perform 20 hours of community service.

In addition to PTSD, Griffith claimed he suffered a traumatic brain injury, fractures to his left leg and ankle, and a meniscus tear in his left knee among other injuries in the attack.

Diggs sued Griffith for defamation over the claims, maintaining that the false accusations have seriously damaged his reputation.

Diggs is coming off a Super Bowl appearance in his lone season with the New England Patriots, who released him as he faced up to five years in prison after being accused of physically attacking his female chef in a payment dispute. He pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, and after a two-day trial, Diggs was cleared.

Although Diggs welcomed a baby with rapper Cardi B last year, the couple has repeatedly split over the ensuing months. 

CHICAGO (WLS) — On Thursday, Chicago’s Haitian community, alongside immigration advocates, convened to protest the looming expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians. The rally took place just hours before the program was scheduled to end for several other immigrant groups on Friday.

This protest follows a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which supported the Trump administration’s decision to terminate TPS for thousands of immigrants from nations including Haiti and Syria. As a result, Haitian immigrants and local businesses face a cloud of uncertainty about their future.

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In Chicago’s Far South Side, the owners of Lior’s Café expressed their worry regarding the fate of their Haitian employees, who might soon be obliged to leave their positions as TPS comes to an end.

“It’s frightening,” remarked Merlyn Jose, a manager at Lior’s Café. “You come here, establish a family, work, and become a contributing member of society. Then, suddenly, it all might vanish.”

TPS is a program designed to allow individuals escaping natural disasters, war, and regimes of persecution to live and work legally in the U.S. Currently, approximately 350,000 Haitians are beneficiaries of TPS, many having migrated to America in the aftermath of Haiti’s catastrophic 2010 earthquake.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority sided with the Trump administration in its effort to end TPS protections for immigrants from several countries.

At the Jean Baptiste Point du Sable monument on Michigan Avenue, a coalition of local Haitian American organizations called on lawmakers to take action.

“Long before Chicago became the great city that we know today, an immigrant from Haiti helped lay its foundation,” said Patrick Brutus, co-founder of the Haitian American Professional Network.

The group was joined by lead counsel in Miot v. Trump, the TPS case that was struck down by the nation’s highest court.

“It was very much a gut-punch,” said attorney Geoff Pipoly.

“To simply have the highest court in the land brush all that evidence to one side with a wave of a hand and say it doesn’t matter, and it’s not overtly racial when it very clearly is, is hard to take,” Pipoly said.

Immigrant advocates are also urging Congress to pass Senate Bill 4814, a measure that would require the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status.

As the expiration date approaches, Haitian residents, workers and business owners across Chicago say they are facing an uncertain future while awaiting the next steps from lawmakers and federal officials.

Authorities have charged 36-year-old Yogesh Sayrange with hurling Molotov cocktails at two religious buildings in Queens and an adjacent commercial property late Wednesday night. He was apprehended while in possession of more incendiary devices, as per reports from law enforcement.

Allegedly, Sayrange targeted the Iglesia Bautista El Mesias situated in the Ozone Park area shortly before 11 p.m. Surveillance footage purportedly captures him conversing with three other individuals before igniting a Molotov cocktail and tossing it over the church’s front gate towards the entrance.

The surveillance video, reported by the New York Post, shows the bottle bursting into flames near the church’s entrance as Sayrange departed the scene.

The FDNY confirmed to News Media that it received a call at 11:57 p.m. Wednesday for a reported incendiary device thrown at a church on 75th Street in Ozone Park. Fire marshals and the NYPD are investigating.

Police said Sayrange then walked less than a mile to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in nearby Woodhaven, where he allegedly threw another Molotov cocktail at the building’s front entrance, sparking a second fire.

The FDNY also confirmed to News Media that it received a second call at 12:08 a.m. Thursday for a reported incendiary device thrown at a church on 78th Street in Woodhaven. Fire marshals and the NYPD are investigating.

Police said no injuries or significant damage were reported at either church.

Investigators later determined Sayrange also allegedly threw a third Molotov cocktail at an ambulance service building on Rockaway Boulevard near 77th Street in Woodhaven around the same time, police said.

No injuries or damage were reported there, police said.

Officers took Sayrange into custody at about 12:10 a.m. Thursday and recovered two additional Molotov cocktails from his backpack, according to police sources.

Investigators are also examining whether Sayrange may be connected to several similar incidents dating back to last month, according to law enforcement sources. Authorities have not publicly announced any additional cases tied to him.

Sayrange appeared in federal court Thursday on charges he threw an incendiary device into a Brooklyn business June 25.

News Media has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for additional information about the Queens investigation.

Carlos Martinez, a pitcher for Hofstra, has had a passion for baseball since his earliest days. As a little boy, he would sit in his stroller behind the dugout fence, watching his father coach Little League teams.

Now, at 21, the talented right-handed pitcher stands on the cusp of potentially being drafted into Major League Baseball this coming weekend.

Expressing his hopes to The Post, Martinez said, “I’m hoping to hear my name on the first day. My ultimate dream is to play professional baseball and excel at it.”

In the lead-up to the draft, Martinez finds himself ranked 212 in ESPN’s list of the top 250 MLB prospects. As a proud Yankees enthusiast from Queens, the soon-to-be senior has thrived under the guidance of Hofstra’s coach, Frank Catalanotto, who brings his own Major League experience.

“Coach Catalanotto has really boosted my confidence,” Martinez shared. “I genuinely believe I am capable of competing with anyone, anywhere.”

Long Island high school shortstop Aiden Ruiz is also hoping to hear his name called, as there’s been much noise around the Stony Brook School star who just graduated.

“I’m pretty calm right now. I haven’t thought too much about it, but as we get closer, I mean, it’s a thought every kid is going to have,” added the Vanderbilt commit, also from Queens.

“I feel like I am very consistent, I’m very hard working, and that’s just going to carry on and off the field,” Ruiz said of his defining qualities.

Should the 19-year-old have to wait another two years for a path into an MLB system, he’s OK with that too.

“I’ll go to college and go win a national championship with Vanderbilt,” Ruiz said.

Chris McHugh, a Commack High School 2023 graduate and North Carolina State first baseman, also attended the draft combine in June as a top prospect.

Title on the line

The Fighting Tomcats are on a highway to the danger zone.

American Soccer Club will take on New Haven United FC for the NPSL’s North Atlantic Conference championship after a 3-1 playoff win over the New York Shockers on Wednesday night.

“They’re up for it — it’s a healthy rivalry that we have with them,” head coach John Fitzgerald told The Post of the Connecticut team.

Their last meeting was plenty dramatic at Mitchel Field, when a storm forced an evacuation of the stadium while AFC trailed in the final minutes.

The Tomcats responded when the clouds cleared with a last-minute tying goal to end the match at 2-2 in June.

“I think the boys are feeling good,” Fitzgerald said of Sunday’s match.